Brighton's Green MP today responded to the Energy and Climate Change select committee's report on deepwater oil drilling, warning that it "exposes serious weaknesses in Government policy - and a shocking complacency within the oil industry on safeguarding human and environmental health against major incidents."

Caroline said: "In my written submission to the committee's inquiry, I challenged the Government's decision to grant new licenses for deepwater drilling before urgent concerns about the adequacy of forward planning and oil spill response systems had been addressed as reckless and irresponsible.

"Ministers couldn't even wait for the results of this committee inquiry, or the US report into the Gulf of Mexico tragedy, before giving the green light last autumn to the first deepwater oil drilling project in the UK since the BP disaster - a decision made during recess, without parliamentary consultation.

"The Government must heed the warnings in this report and strengthen regulation to force oil companies to adequately prevent and mitigate for oil spills, appoint board members with environmental expertise - and gain assurances that industry will meet the full cost of potential clean up and compensation claims following major incidents."

"Ultimately, however, only a full moratorium on new deepwater oil drilling off the UK coast, at least until the regulatory regime is brought up to scratch and obvious industry failures are addressed, can ensure that we avoid the kind of environmental catastrophe we saw in the Gulf of Mexico."

She concluded: "Finally, the Government must surely recognise that every pound we spend on old, unsustainable technologies is a pound not spent on the new, job creating, renewable technologies of the future which will ultimately help us reduce our dangerous dependence on oil."

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For more information, please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766670.